Radio | News week in plain Finnish | Sunday 22.12.2024

Finnish Christmas dishes

Finnish Christmas food tradition

This time, the topic of the news week is Finnish Christmas dishes.

The Finnish Christmas food tradition is quite young. Back in the 19th century, there were no special Christmas dishes in Finland. People ate better at Christmas than on weekdays, but different homes ate many different dishes.

The current Christmas food tradition originated in the 20th century.

We will now tell you about the most popular Finnish Christmas dishes.

Ham and boxes

The most popular Christmas dish is ham. The ham is slowly baked. The surface of the ham is decorated with mustard, breadcrumbs and cloves. On a plate, mustard is spread over the ham slices.

About 70 percent of Finns want to eat ham at Christmas. About 6 million kilos of ham are sold at Christmas.

A box of semolina is eaten with the ham. It is made from semolina, spices and syrup and baked in the oven.

Other boxes on the Christmas table include a carrot box and a potato box.

Ham is decorated on the Christmas table. Peas and boxes, for example a box of lantula, go well with ham. Photo: Helsinki City Museum / Volker von Bonin

Cold fish dishes

Christmas meals usually start with cold fish dishes.

The most popular cold fish dish is salmon in gravy. The salmon fillet is seasoned with salt, sugar and dill and left to mature in the refrigerator for 1 or 2 days.

The salmon is then cut into thin slices. Whitefish is also a popular fish for gravy.

Other cold Christmas fish dishes include herring and herring in a spiced broth.

Cold-smoked salmon and hot-smoked salmon are also popular Christmas fish dishes.

Salmon cut into thin slices. Photo: Simo Pitkänen / Yle

Rosolli

The Christmas table salad is rosolli. Rosolli contains boiled potatoes, beetroot, carrots, apples and onions.

Mushroom salad is also a part of many Finns’ Christmas table.

The bread on the Christmas table is Christmas loaf. It is a spicy and slightly sweet dark bread.

A pink sauce is served with the rosolli, which is made from cream or whipped cream and colored with beetroot. Photo: Simo Pitkänen / Yle

Rice porridge

Rice porridge is also eaten at Christmas. It is eaten, for example, in the morning or during the day.

Rice porridge became more common at the end of the 19th century, when rice began to be imported to Finland by train.

Rice porridge is sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. Some people like to eat rice porridge with plum soup, for example.

An almond is put in the rice porridge. An old belief is that an almond brings good luck to the one who receives it.

Sprinkle cinnamon on top of the rice porridge. You can also pour milk on the plate.

Mulled wine

The Christmas drink is mulled wine. It is a spiced juice or wine that is heated.

Spices for glög include cinnamon, cloves and anise.

Mulled wine came to Finland from Sweden. Hot mulled wine warms you up after a day outdoors, for example.

The most popular Christmas pastries are gingerbread and plum tarts.

Hot mulled wine warms you up after an outdoor activity, for example. Photo: YLE/Arja Lento

Repetition

This time, Uutisviikko reported on the most popular Christmas dishes in Finland.

The most popular Christmas food is ham and its boxes. Cold fish dishes are also very popular Christmas food.

This was a news week in plain Finnish. See you again, let’s hear from you!